While the statute freezes shareholder voting rights above 5
percent, the Central Bank of Libya owns 5 percent of the Milan-
based lender and the Libyan Investment Authority, a sovereign
wealth fund, holds 2 percent. The Northern League wants market
regulator Consob to probe whether the two investors should be
considered a single entity as Libya is ruled by Muammar Qaddafi.

“Libya is a country under dictatorship,” Maurizio
Fugatti, a Northern League member for Trentino in the Lower
house of Parliament, said in a telephone interview. “If so,
Consob should freeze Libyan voting rights exceeding 5 percent.”

While Berlusconi has fostered relations with Libya after
signing commercial agreements with Qaddafi in 2009, the Northern
League is concerned that UniCredit may neglect its home market.
The party wants the bank, which earlier this month received
preliminary approval to start a subsidiary in the North African
country, to provide more support to small companies in Piedmont
and Veneto, said Fugatti.

“Our decisions will also depend on UniCredit’s behavior
with clients based in Northern Italy,” said Fugatti. The
Northern League will decide whether to approach the regulator in
the coming weeks, he said.

A Rome-based spokesman at Consob and a spokesman at
UniCredit declined to comment.

“UniCredit, like all banks, has been tight on credit to
keep its solvency ratios high, but now that the stress test
angst is over they may concede a little to show their good
will,” said Patrizio Pazzaglia, a money manager at Bank
Insinger de Beaufort NV in Rome. “UniCredit’s foreign investor
base is widening and that can create some political strain but I
wouldn’t be overly concerned.”